Mechanically-evoked C-fiber activity in painful alcohol and AIDS therapy neuropathy in the rat

While altered activities in sensory neurons were noticed in neuropathic pain, caused by highly diverse insults to the peripheral nervous system, such as diabetes, alcohol ingestion, cancer chemotherapy and drugs used to treat AIDS, other infections and autoimmune diseases, as well as trauma, our understanding of how these various peripheral neuropathies manifest as altered neuronal activity is still rudimentary. The recent development of models of several of those neuropathies has, however, now made it possible to address their impact on primary afferent nociceptor function. We compared changes in mechanically-evoked C-fiber activity, in models of painful peripheral neuropathy induced by drinking ethanol (alcohol) or administering 2',3'-dideoxycytidine (ddC), a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor for AIDS therapy, two co-morbid conditions in which pain is thought to be mediated by different second messenger signaling pathways. In C-fiber afferents, ddC decreased conduction velocity. In contrast, alcohol but not ddC caused enhanced response to mechanical stimulation (i.e., decrease in threshold and increase in response to sustained threshold and supra-threshold stimulation) and changes in pattern of evoked activity (interspike interval and action potential variability analyses). These marked differences in primary afferent nociceptor function, in two different forms of neuropathy that produce mechanical hyperalgesia of similar magnitude, suggest that optimal treatment of neuropathic pain may differ depending on the nature of the causative insult to the peripheral nervous system, and emphasize the value of studying co-morbid conditions that produce painful peripheral neuropathy by different mechanisms

Association of tumor necrosis factor genetic polymorphism with chronic atrophic gastritis and gastric adenocarcinoma in Chinese Han population.

0.05). However, TNF-beta Ncol*1/2 and d2/d6 genotypes did not relate to age, gender, grade of differentiation and clinicopathologic stage in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. The frequency of TNFa6b5c1 haplotype homozygote was significantly lower in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma than in healthy controls (1.79% vs 15.85%, P=0.006). CONCLUSION: TNFa10 allele may be a risk factor for chronic atrophic gastritis. TNF-beta Ncol*1/2 and d2/d6 genotypes are associated with the susceptibility to gastric adenocarcinoma, whereas TNFa6b5c1 haplotype homozygote may contribute to the resistance against gastric adenocarcinoma

Near-threshold ultraviolet-laser ablation of Kapton film investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Author name used in this publication: K. C. Yung2002-2003 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Cycling performance of Mn2O3 porous nanocubes and hollow spheres for lithium-ion batteries

Post presentationMn2O3 is a promising anode material for lithium ion battery. Two different kinds of structures of Mn2O3 were synthesized via solution processes, the Mn2O3 porous cubes and hollow spheres. Scanning electron microscope images and transmission electron microscopy images clearly show the structures. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry measurements were used to characterize their electrochemical properties. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, Mn2O3 porous cubes performed similarly as Mn2O3 hollow spheres. Both samples started with high initial capacities (1583.2 mAh/g and 1550.7 mAh/g) which were reduced to 173.3 mAh/g and 162.0 mAh/g at 100th cycle at a current density of 100 mA/g. The decrease is likely due to morphology destruction the materials in charging and discharging process.published_or_final_versio

Modeling, Oscillation Analysis and Distributed Stabilization Control of Autonomous PV-based Microgrids

Driven by rising energy demand and the goal of carbon neutrality, renewable energy generations (REGs), especially photovoltaic (PV) generations, are widely used in the urban power energy systems. While the intelligent control of microgrids (MG) brings economic and efficient operation, its potential stability problem cannot be ignored. To date, most of the research on modeling, analyzing and enhancing the stability of MG usually assume the DC-link as an ideal voltage source. However, this practice of ignoring the dynamics of DC-link may omit the latent oscillation phenomena of autonomous PV-based MG. First, this paper establishes a complete dynamic model of autonomous PV-based MG including PV panels and DC-link. Different from previous conclusions of idealizing DC-link dynamics, participation factor analysis finds the potential impact of DC-link dynamics on system dynamic performance, and different influence factors including critical control parameters and non-linear V-I output characteristic of PV array are considered to further reveal oscillation mechanisms. Second, based on the average consensus algorithm, a distributed stabilization controller with strong robustness is proposed to enhance stability of the PV-based MG, which does not affect the steady-state performance of the system. Finally, the correctness of all theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed controller are verified by time domain simulation and hardware-in-loop tests.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 51907031

A Hybrid Incentive Program for Managing Electric Vehicle Charging Flexibility

With the mass roll-out of electric vehicles (EVs) and rapid progress in battery technology, utilizing EV charging flexibility has become a promising solution for supporting economic and secured power system operations. This work proposes a novel hybrid incentive program, which encourages EV owners to sell their charging flexibility to a charging station (CS) and achieve a win-win situation for both EV owners and the CS. Unlike existing approaches, the proposed hybrid incentive program is simultaneously featured with simplicity, consistency, and controllability. To determine the incentive payment parameters, an optimal incentive price selection model is developed. In the solution methodology, we first linearize the original problem, then develop an adaptive ADMM algorithm to efficiently solve the formulated problem. Case studies confirm the superiority of the proposed hybrid incentive program over the state-of-the-arts, achieving 22.51% of EV owners’ cost reduction, 31.18% of energy market bill reduction, and 64.13% of potential charging flexibility utilization

Optimal Sizing of Battery Energy Storage System in Smart Microgrid with Air-conditioning Resources

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Regional differences in APD restitution can initiate wavebreak and re-entry in cardiac tissue: A computational study

Background Regional differences in action potential duration (APD) restitution in the heart favour arrhythmias, but the mechanism is not well understood. Methods We simulated a 150 × 150 mm 2D sheet of cardiac ventricular tissue using a simplified computational model. We investigated wavebreak and re-entry initiated by an S1S2S3 stimulus protocol in tissue sheets with two regions, each with different APD restitution. The two regions had a different APD at short diastolic interval (DI), but similar APD at long DI. Simulations were performed twice; once with both regions having steep (slope > 1), and once with both regions having flat (slope < 1) APD restitution. Results Wavebreak and re-entry were readily initiated using the S1S2S3 protocol in tissue sheets with two regions having different APD restitution properties. Initiation occurred irrespective of whether the APD restitution slopes were steep or flat. With steep APD restitution, the range of S2S3 intervals resulting in wavebreak increased from 1 ms with S1S2 of 250 ms, to 75 ms (S1S2 180 ms). With flat APD restitution, the range of S2S3 intervals resulting in wavebreak increased from 1 ms (S1S2 250 ms), to 21 ms (S1S2 340 ms) and then 11 ms (S1S2 400 ms). Conclusion Regional differences in APD restitution are an arrhythmogenic substrate that can be concealed at normal heart rates. A premature stimulus produces regional differences in repolarisation, and a further premature stimulus can then result in wavebreak and initiate re-entry. This mechanism for initiating re-entry is independent of the steepness of the APD restitution curve

Site-specific incorporation of phosphotyrosine using an expanded genetic code.

Access to phosphoproteins with stoichiometric and site-specific phosphorylation status is key to understanding the role of protein phosphorylation. Here we report an efficient method to generate pure, active phosphotyrosine-containing proteins by genetically encoding a stable phosphotyrosine analog that is convertible to native phosphotyrosine. We demonstrate its general compatibility with proteins of various sizes, phosphotyrosine sites and functions, and reveal a possible role of tyrosine phosphorylation in negative regulation of ubiquitination

Optimal Operation of Smart Buildings with Stochastic Connection of Electric Vehicles

Guangdong Foshan Power Construction Corporation Group Co., Ltd.; Department of Finance and Education of Guangdong Province 2016 [202]: Key Discipline Construction Program, China; Education Department of Guangdong Province: New and Integrated Energy System Theory and Technology Research Group [Project Number 2016KCXTD022]; National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant 51907031; Brunel University London BRIEF Funding